"And that's about all the fuel we could find. Not even a single tank" Ensign Robert Smith said to Captain Douglas Jensen.

"The Slugs were running on empty when they got here" he remarked, examining the datapad provided. He tried to ignore the fact that he was standing on a trail of slime and ichor that was the remains of the Slug ship's Captain.

A Rock(wo)man poked her rocky head into the Bridge. Douglas sighed "Debbie, this better be important. While I appreciate your efforts in deceiving the Slugs, you did it without my authority."

"My parents said the same thing whenever I did something for the tribe. Do you know what happened when I decided to obey them for once?" Debbie replied, crossing her arms.

"You ended up on a Federation vessel with me" Douglas replied "Now what do you have Princess?"

"I found co-ordinates to a secret stash a jump away" Debbie said proudly, her glowing red eyes brightening "Maybe the pirate has the rest of his booty there or was planning on raiding it themselves."

"Guess it's worth a shot" Douglas commented, keying his comms. "Two-Zar, beam us back."

Once back onboard, the Osprey spun up its FTL drive while Douglas programmed the co-ordinates into the computer. There was a brief shift in the inertial dampeners as the cruiser went from one beacon to another, followed by a sudden shutdown of several systems upon arrival.

"Two-Zar? Robert? What happened?" Douglas asked, looking out the viewport at the scene before him.

The Osprey floated in the middle of a gaseous nebula, except the clouds were a darker shade of purple and would occasionally crackle with lightning. Debris floated around the beacon like an asteroid field providing a navigational hazard for all ships.

"Plasma storm" the Engi Two-Zar chirped from the engine room behind him "Reactor usage minimised by 50% to prevent overload."

"Looks like we'll have to find this stash quickly then. This place is definitely a good hiding spot. No one wants to be in the middle of a plasma storm" Douglas remarked, bringing up a display of the ship. Several bars on his left indicated how much power was available for distribution while icons at the bottom of the screen showed where he could allocate it.

"I know you were in a hurry to conserve reactor power but why in the universe would you decide to take power away from life support?" he complained to Two-Zar "Even you need to breathe."

"Logical. Maintain shields and maximum weapons power at all times" the Engi stated. He tilted his head sideways at seeing Douglas pinching his nose and closing his eyes tightly. "Problem?"

Douglas turned back to the display and began adjusting power bars. He reduced a layer of shield and left only one gun operational. The rest went into life support and engines. "We can power them back up once we're out of the storm. Don't do that again!"

"Apologies" Two-Zar said, dejectedly walking back to his station.

As the Osprey moved through the fields of ship fragments, Douglas ordered the crew to keep their eyes open for usable debris or anything that would resemble a secret stash. He deduced there was plenty of time before the Rebel fleet would track his current position.

He poured himself a cup of soma and wandered the halls checking up on everyone's progress. He found Robert in the maintenance hatch underneath one of the reactor power cells, making adjustments to the fuel lines. To most people, it looked rather ridiculous to watch him clumsily grab the tools and use then for maintenance. Douglas nodded and said "Carry on."

"Not yet. Have you looked out the viewports at the ships, Captain?" Robert asked, crawling out of the hatch and sitting up from his position "It looks like most of them had been shattered like glass. What kind of weapon does that?"

Douglas shrugged "Haven't a clue Robert. But I have noticed that most of the shards are green, brown and black – Zoltan Empire vessels. Whatever the weapon used, they didn't have it."

Robert made a loud screeching noise "Should we even be here then? What if the pirate stash is booby-trapped and those were ZRPC ships trying to collect?"

Douglas reassured him "Whatever it was, it was used long ago. The more recent wreckage is what you'd expect from burst lasers, beams and missiles flying about unstable reactor cores."

"I see" Robert chittered, quickly checking his datapad. "By the way, I just detected some radio signals from a nearby asteroid."

"You detected them or did Two-Zar?" Douglas asked, crossing his arms smugly "Never mind, anything useful?"

"ANODYNE is still going through it" Robert said "Two-Zar is running a trace on where it might be broadcasting to – the signal seems rather focused."

Douglas perked up at hearing this news "Run a scan for lifesigns, just in case we're not the only ones here. If we're alone out here, working transmission equipment can be repurposed as scrap material if we don't find this stash.."

"I'll try but I know my FTL fuel lines more than sensor operation. Especially in these conditions. There's only so much a scared Engi can teach you" Robert said, ducking back into the hatch to continue his work. Huh, those Engies were right about him having a strange bug, Douglas thought to himself, moving back to the helm.


After some careful moves through the debris field the Osprey arrived at the asteroid the signal was coming from. "Holy crap, if a pirate wanted to hide a stash, what better place than inside a city?" Robert remarked, glancing out one of the viewports.

The asteroid, like most rocks had been pockmarked with holes from micrometeorites and debris but even a basic scan revealed an entire city had been constructed inside. "Lights are on, but the scanners don't say anyone's home" Douglas said, checking the screen "Still, we can't be too careful."

He grabbed a blaster rifle and checked the power cells "Two-Zar, prepare the teleporter. Debbie and Robert, you're with me. We're going to investigate the ruins. Starting with the transmitter."

"Acknowledged" the Engi chirped. Although before Douglas had taken one step, he warned him "Hazardous radiation detected."

"We weren't planning on going in there in just rebreathers, Two-Zar" Douglas said, heading for the teleporter room "We've got the Adaptive Gel Suits for this sort of thing."


The teleporter activated yet again and Douglas was inside the asteroid city. Two-Zar had dropped the crew off on the roof of one of the flatter buildings a few hundred metres from the transmitter source. As Douglas took in his surroundings, he saw Debbie and Robert waiting nearby, playing some sort of game with their hands. Debbie appeared to be winning judging by how annoyed Robert was.

"That was definitely paper!" Robert complained, waving his hand at Debbie.

The Rock laughed "You're bad at arm-wrestling and also bad at a simple game made by Humans. I'd think you were a Mantis if you weren't such a good engineer."

"Knock it off you two" Douglas said, raising his gun and heading towards the edge of the building. He could see rocks and metal sticking out all around him, with walkways and balconies above, below, vertically and upside-down. "Looks like this place was built for Humans, or people resembling Humans."

He checked his suit's head-up-display and pointed in the direction of a large spire sticking out of one of the walls. "The signal is coming from there. We go over there and salvage the equipment" he explained, powering up the inbuilt flight pack on his suit. "Afterwards, we'll be sure to grab anything that looks useful. This place looks to be an archaeologist's dream."

Robert and Debbie took flight with the Captain as they flew towards the spire. "By the way, ANODYNE came back with a rough translation of the distress signal" Robert said, flying between several walkways. He swooped in and scooped up a mangled pile of electronics. "I don't know if the translation software is broken or that whoever sent the signal is insane."

Douglas played the translation. The software synthesised a very tearful young woman's voice as it constantly repeated "I love you so much grandfather."

"Definitely an odd transmission to send to someone" Douglas remarked, cutting power to the thrusters once over the spire. His centre of gravity shifted and he found himself standing on the structure. The same happened for Debbie and Robert.

"After we salvage the beacon, we should look for that gravity generator. If it's been running all this time we can…" Douglas started before a part of the wall shifted, revealing a doorway into the spire.

A horribly garbled message started playing which Douglas assumed was a welcome announcement. He stepped inside, kicking a large pile of dust and electronics at his feet. His radiation counter was registering highly lethal doses inside the building – much higher than the radiation outside.

"Looks like they really wanted everyone in here to be dead" Debbie remarked.

The crew moved through the empty metal-plated and rocky hallways, pausing at nearby doorways and side passages to check for anything useful. Apart from dust and faint audio transmissions from the loudspeakers, the building was empty. "Even the ghosts in this town are gone."

In the end when they finally neared the room with the transmission equipment, the crew were hauling around several bags of irradiated scrap materials and electronics.

"I'm going to contact Two-Zar and have him teleport these bags back to the Osprey" Douglas said, keying his comms. "Two-Zar, this is the Captain. We've got some supplies we'd like sent back. Can you get a read on our transponder?"

No reply was heard. He tried again. Nothing. He looked to Robert. "Anything on your end? It can't be the radiation – we could broadcast from the surface of a star without transmission problems."

The Ensign suggested shutting down the transmitter "Maybe we're close enough for it to affect the comms? Federation-issue is durable but prone to interference from other equipment."

"Maybe" Douglas said, approaching a large blast door. The beacon's signals were strongest on the other side. Unlike the other doors, the blast door refused to open. A holographic terminal on one side seemed to be asking for a security code.

Debbie cracked her rocky fists together and deployed the manoeuvring thrusters of her gel suit, positioning them for maximum forward movement. Douglas waved for her to stop "Someone's left a spoofer on the frame. We can just…"

There was a loud slamming sound as Debbie impacted with the door, denting it heavily with a Rock-shaped imprint.

A loud piercing siren echoed down the halls and other doors opened up revealing combat drones. Douglas raised his blaster at them and chided Debbie "Do you have to trip every security system that doesn't open for you?"

The drones resembled large floating metal spheres with guns attached to the side. A red light on the front indicated that they were active. Debbie's eyes glowed brighter as she assumed a battle stance, heavy blaster drawn. "Yes I do. Hacking is boring. This way makes the fights come to us!"

The drones gave an audio warning before suddenly dropping to the ground, their lights deactivating. Debbie looked disappointed "The one time an ancient security system does actually fail…"

The dented blast door then slid open partway before stopping and trying to close again. Debbie put her hands between the frame and the door and forcibly pushed it open. Robert and Douglas stepped through before Debbie let go and the door sealed behind them. "I'll be out here in case those drones wake up. This might be more fun."

The room resembled a massive, high-ceiling control room with terminals forming a circle around a large spherical-shaped object in the middle of the room. The sphere stood on top of a pedestal and was surrounded by a shimmering purple barrier.

"Captain, I really do think you give Debbie too much authority" Robert said quietly, grabbing a circuitboard and throwing it at the sphere. It instantly disintegrated upon impact with the barrier.

"I told you already that she technically she outranks me" Douglas said to the Ensign "Federation has guidelines on handling Rock royalty. I'm supposed to only give suggestions, not orders."

"Would your father have thought the same way?" Robert asked, examining one of the terminals. ANODYNE was still going through the initial translation of the welcoming audio message. He buzzed angrily at how the language was so ancient that even the universal translator was having trouble figuring it out.

"My father followed the spirit of Federation law, but even he would have not wanted to get on the bad side of Vrachos royalty, especially in the presence of one. They don't raise princesses to be weak after all" Douglas replied. His boots then kicked something soft and he looked down, and then jumped back in surprise.

"An intact body" he exclaimed, crouching down for a better look. It resembled a Human being, of male build, but was encased in an adaptive gel suit of similar design to that of the Federation, except it was in Rebellion Yellow and marked with purple squid insignia. "They might as well have flown a Jolly Roger or something for the same effect."

"Two bodies, Captain" Robert said, gesturing for one of the more prominent consoles behind the sphere. Another Human, female build and in a purple jumpsuit as if she had been just flown to the place in a space fighter or a corvette – something small. Her skin and hair also appeared to be the same shade of metallic purple.

Douglas gasped, and then shook his head. Robert asked if he was alright. "Just fine Robert… it's like I'm seeing a ghost. Or someone who looks like a celebrity."

"Ok Captain… anyway I'm guessing we're not the only ones who went into the storm looking for treasure" Robert said "Although how did she make it this far without the radiation killing her? It's high enough to kill a Rock."

"A Sandstoner maybe. But not one from Vrachos" Debbie called back "I'm only wearing this suit because it has a jetpack."

Suddenly the woman stirred, her whole body twitching in pain. Douglas quickly rushed to keep her steady before she rolled off the console and hit her head. She groaned out several words weakly, looking up at him with pleading eyes. The Captain stared back in shock at the woman's survivability even under such conditions.

As her eyes rolled back, her dying words breathed out "Abadoth."

One of her arms was pointed in the direction of the beacon before she went limp, and her breathing stopped. Douglas shook his head and gently closed her eyes.

"Rest in peace…" He looked to the beacon and saw the console she had been slumped over had a glowing green light. On a hunch he pressed it and the transmitter shut down unceremoniously.

He could then contact the Osprey. "Two-Zar, beam us back onboard. There's nothing else left for us here."